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Her past is a secret, but Taney Tyrell is haunted by the future. Brilliant new novel about a girl with the gift of the second sight, by Irish author, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick. Ever since Taney was four she's known she could see things before they happened. She also knows that she must keep her gift a secret - at all costs. Teased and isolated by the local children for being strange, as Taney grows older, she has more and more questions. Why is her father so terrified of her gift? What happened to her mother? Then she meets the mysterious Billy, an outsider just as she is. Charming and attentive, Billy is the first person with whom Taney can simply be herself; with whom she can share her strange burden, and begin, instead, to feel proud of her ability. But then the visions come - lone girls attacked as they walk home at night. And as Billy begins to withdraw further into himself, Taney must ask herself who to trust - her only friend, or the visions that torment her.

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Enter Taney's world of dark powers, tormenting gifts, and a mysterious evil...

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Reviews

ELLE MINKIE

"Back in the Ye Ol’ Days of Dublin there lived a girl with a secret. Her name was Taney Tyrell and her secret was a gift. A different gift. A dangerous gift.

The ability to see the future.

This is, of course, not the best thing to have in a little town full of superstitious people…especially with her mysterious mother who died when she was a child. As Taney starts to discover her power she becomes an outcast in the town; and with all these stories of her mother floating around her gift starts to become her own curse.

Until she befriends Billy-"Billy-the-Bowl", “Billy-no-legs”-he’s a bit different too; and with the help of her new friend her curse becomes more of a gift than ever! But something is going wrong…life is getting harder, Billy’s becoming distant and her visions...

Her visions start to get very dark. There is a strangler about and Taney can see him; she just can’t see who he is.

'Dark Warning' is absolutely my kind of story. It’s dark and full of mystery, keeping you on your toes, guessing, doubting and second guessing right to the very end. This is the first book I’ve ever read by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick and I LOVE her style. She immerses you straight into the history of the world, so much so you can practically hear the chatter and gossip of the town every time you open the book. The characters of the story, both major and minor, come to life so clearly; from the two old ladies living downstairs to the grand families of the Quality, it’s hard not to get caught up in such a fascinating society!

Taney herself is an enthralling little heroine. She’s only just starting to explore the full extent of her powers and how they may affect her life, she’s introduced into the life of work and with it the lifestyle of the Quality class, all the while she is tormented with visions of a serial strangler, scared that the killer may find out what she knows, wondering if she may be his next victim and struggling with the possibility that the culprit may be closer to her than she realises. Taney’s life is changing so dramatically and with every turn of the page you can’t help but be drawn deeper into the wonder and mystery with her!

'Dark Warning' is a positively enthralling tale and my only disappointment was that it did not continue for longer.

Elle Minkie

JUST ME

Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick has an interesting idea and an alluring story line however I found the story had a slow start and so therefore I lost interest quickly. This however is only my opinion based on my love of happier stories with a lighter context. A book worth reading, just not my type.

Just Me

AVOX GIRL

"This was an amazing date with everything a date should have.
I loved the style in which it was written and how it seemed to be set with no clear date. Our heroine Taney has a secret one that is hers and hers alone. From fear of the reaction of her father and friends Taney has kept her visions to herself. The older she gets the more unanswered questions she has, but her mother is dead and she has no one to ask. Teased and excluded by the other children Taney becomes more and more lonely, until till she meets Billy, who is also an outsider like her self. Being herself Taney discovers can be more frightful and daunting , when she starts seeing girls being attacked she doesn't know what to do, confide in her only friend who is slipping away from her trust in her visors.

Trust is something hard to gain and easy to loose, when thats in the story you are promised a good read. "

Avox Girl

RIVER

For the reader who likes a book that catches their attention from the first page, this is the perfect match for someone who always enjoys those good old-fashioned stories.

River

Books From Mars

"This was a story I both loved and hated.
I loved the concept, the characters, and the mystery. It was really easy to lose myself within the pages, trying to guess who the killer was.

Taney was a really strong, believable character. She has a gift—or is it a curse?—where she can see things before they happen. Her mother had the same gift, but it destroyed her, but Taney doesn’t know how. There are so many secrets that are kept from her that are about her and her mother, and it was fun to guess them, and depressing and breath-taking when they were revealed.
This is a poignant story, and it left me feeling sad—in a good way, of course. While I don’t exactly like the way it ended, I can totally see that it was a good choice, and that it wouldn’t have worked any other way.

Now, with what I disliked, which I promise isn’t much.
The dialect was my biggest problem. While it did make it more authentic, more Irish, it was still jarring. With words like iffen, it was confusing to keep up. I feel that it could have worked better if the dialect was saved for actual dialouge, and not narration.

Yeah, that’s pretty much my only gripe with this story. Otherwise, it was fantastically written, and I can’t wait for it to come out so that I can force all my friends to buy it."

Books From Mars